An Owensboro visitor may not expect to encounter an art scene as rich as the one the west Kentucky city of roughly 60,000 boasts.
It’s a facet of the city that has become a point of pride for Jason Edward Hayden, especially because the museum he directs, the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, plays a central role.
“The arts in Owensboro are actually amazing,” he said. “It has three museums, a performing arts center theaters with dance and drama and a Botanical Garden — things you normally wouldn’t see in the town of 60,000 people. Usually you would expect to see that in the larger metropolitan area.”
About the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art
Opened in 1977 in the former Owensboro Carnegie Library building at 901 Frederica St., the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art houses a permanent collection of more than 4,000 works spanning from the 15th century to the present. It is the largest fine art museum in west Kentucky, Hayden said, and the second largest in the commonwealth.
The museum aims to enrich lives through art, showcasing works in a wide range of mediums and styles from around the world, but local and regional art also figures prominently in its collection. In fact, Hayden said the museum holds the “best collection of Appalachian folk art in Kentucky.”
“The mission of the museum is to teach people about their culture and the culture of others through the acquisition, collection, preservation and interpretation of the visual arts,” Hayden said. “We bring the world to Owensboro and the citizens of the region.”
Rotating exhibitions also come and go about every six to eight weeks and can carry regional, state, national or international significance, Hayden said.
The museum is free to the public, and its gallery is open Tuesday-Friday from 12-5 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 1-4 p.m.
But visitors do not need to step inside to enjoy the museum’s offerings. Several sculptures are installed around the grounds, contributing to the area’s character and sense of place.
“One of the things that public art does is it reminds us of our past and sort of in and it sort of reflects who we are as a region,” he said.
Educational mission and expansion
Education is a cornerstone of the museum’s mission. Some of the museum’s primary educational endeavors are its art camps, which are hosted four or five times throughout the year and typically have a waitlist to attend because of their popularity, Hayden said.
“The education of children has always been one of the primary goals of the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, and toward that end, we have created spaces that encourage young artists,” Hayden said.
Among those spaces are ArtLand — a children’s art studio that provides free art instruction during museum hours; the Young at Art Gallery — a rotating gallery for the display of school art projects; and the Kaleidoscope Kave — an interactive digital gallery where visual and performing arts collide.
The museum is also expanding with the forthcoming ArtLand 2 Education Annex, located nearby at 214 W. Ninth St. behind the main building. Expected to open in late Summer 2026, the annex will support expanded programming and offer space for other community uses, Hayden said.
“We’re building it to help us triple the number of children we can educate. It’s an open floor plan that allows kids to learn in a space where they can make a mess,” Hayden said.
Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at kbaarlaer@gannett.com or @bkillian72 on X.